Catastrophic flooding triggers evacuations in Hawaii

Reuters

Catastrophic flooding from a stream swollen by heavy rains prompted officials to order evacuations from a town north of Honolulu on Tuesday, just one day after fears of a dam breach resulted in the same on the island of Maui.

The Honolulu Department of Emergency Management directed people to immediately leave Haleiwa town on Oahu’s North Shore, an area famed for big-wave surfing.

Torrential rains have inundated parts of Hawaii for several days.

On Monday, officials initially feared the Kaupakalua Dam in the Maui community of Haiku was breached by flood waters but county officials determined there was no structural damage after closer inspection.

Those living near or below the dam were asked to continue evacuations until the all clear is given.

About six homes on Maui and two bridges were heavily damaged or destroyed, Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino’s office said. He urged people to be vigilant because there were fears of landslides.

“This has been unprecedented flooding, and we will be making damage assessments today,” Victorino said in a statement. “I ask everyone to stay vigilant and be safe.”

The Maui Fire Department said it responded to more than a dozen calls for help from residents trapped by rising waters.

Water flowed over the top of the dam’s reservoir, but the dam itself did not fail, said Shan Tsutsui, the chief operating officer of Mahi Pono, a co-owner of the dam.

Officials monitored the reservoir overnight. County officials said water levels remained above normal, roughly 1 meter below the top of the dam.

One evacuation center remained open on Tuesday for anyone needing shelter.

Victorino also urged tourists to stay in their hotel rooms or wherever they were staying.

Maui County spokesperson Brian Perry said he did not know how many people lived downstream of the dam.

A state website says the earthen dam was built in 1885 and is 17.4 meters high and 122 meters long.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said the dam is scheduled to be removed this summer. The agency notified the dam’s owners in February 2020 that it needed a water-level gauge with readings accessible on the Internet and ordered the owners to keep the reservoir empty. The owners have done so, except during storms when water is passed through, the agency said.

The East Maui Irrigation Company, which was created to divert water from streams to sugar plantations, owns the dam.

Mahi Pono, which grows a variety of crops on former sugar cane land, co-owns East Maui Irrigation with Alexander & Baldwin Inc, a commercial real estate developer with roots in the sugar industry.

The state regulates 132 dams across Hawaii, most of them built as part of irrigation systems for the sugar cane industry, according to a 2019 infrastructure report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The number of regulated dams fell to 131 the following year, likely because one had been taken out of service, said Dan Dennison, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Of the 132 dams listed in the report, 93 percent are classified as high-hazard potential, which means a failure could result in significant loss of life or property.

Seven people were killed in 2007 after the Ka Loko dam on the island of Kauai collapsed and water rushed downhill.